How do artists and composers evoke, imitate, mock, or pay tribute to animals, which are both our best companions and, at the same time, radically different from us? This lecture-concert featuring a presentation by Laure Murat, professor of French and Francophone Studies at UCLA, and performances of works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Fauré, Rameau, Rossini, Cage, Gershwin, and others, attempts to answer this question. The program features the first U.S. appearance of Vincent Penot, clarinetist of the Opéra de Paris, who performs three pieces on the program.

Animals! is part of a festival organized by the Center for European and Russian Studies on the topic of animals viewed by European artists. It includes screenings selected by UCLA Film and Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater in the Hammer Museum during the weekend of February 23-25, 2018. Each movie will be introduced by philosopher and ethologist Vinciane Despret, professor at the University of Liège, Belgium.